IPPC Discussion Group - Tackling environmental issues

The International Plant Protection Convention (IPPC) is an international agreement with 183 contracting parties that works towards preventing the introduction and spread of plant pests around the world, which also contributes to food security, environmental protection and facilitates trade.

To work towards the IPPC vision of protecting global plant resources from pests our contracting parties implement the Convention, international standards for phytosanitary measures (ISPMs) and recommendations made by the Commission on Phytosanitary Measures (CPM), to establish, manage and strengthen their phytosanitary systems. However, this takes a lot of work and requires both financial and human resources for effective implementation. It is for this reason that this exercise is being undertaken, to determine how we can assist our contracting parties to access funding to implement the environmental aspects of the Convention.

Under the IPPC Strategic Framework (2012-2019), protection of the environment is specified under Strategic Objective B - protect the environment, forests and biodiversity from plant pests. This strategic objective covers a number of sub-elements including forestry, climate change, biodiversity (and invasive alien species (IAS)), appropriate use of chemicals for phytosanitary measures and pest management.

The group discussed these environmental aspects in relation to plant health in an effort to identify synergies between the IPPC framework and the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) focal areas to determine areas of work related to the environmental mandates of the two conventions. It is intended that this joint work will form the basis of a future proposal to access funding from environmental-related resource mobilization partners.

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